31st March 2022 - Boundary to County

 With just two of us available a quick trip around one of my favourite Ease Gill routes seemed appropriate. The big attraction of this trip is that it normally requires no tackle at all and neither of us particularly likes carrying tackle. With Wetchedy Wabbit currently out of action though, our first port of call was into County to drop a ladder down the pitch so that we didn't need to carry our SRT kit through with us. Then off up the fortunately dry valley to the Boundary entrance.

We're starting to get to know Boundary quite well now and we were soon through the more grovelly bits and dropping down one of my favourite free climbs into the more spacious parts of the system. A slight navigational hiccough as I tried to follow a more aqueous exit out of Fusion cavern was soon corrected by Mike who'd found the much more pleasant way on and we were soon passing the amazing false floors on our way to Hiroshima.

Through the Manhattan connection and again I was on a roll with Mike having to rein me in as I carried on climbing higher and higher in Nagasaki, completely missing the way on. To avoid further navigational issues, Mike now took the lead and with a swift peek into Easter grotto we made our way through the Assembly room, White Way and Thackray's before the quick shuffle at Holbeck junction through into Stop pot.

At the main line terminus we had a brief rest before Mike was once again off through the Manchester by pass. Knowing how familiar he is with the passage, I undid all my zips and removed my hat. Had I been able to I'd have put on shorts and a t-shirt. Trying to keep up with Mike through passage he knows well is a full on sprint!

The brakes came on briefly for the climb up from Broadway and for the ladder ascent but we were soon making the final moves up into daylight. This is a terrific little trip with a little bit of everything. Cheers Mike for a grand evening, though we're going to have to slow things down a bit if I'm going to avoid paying for parking in Kirkby.

6th February 2020 - Manc in Manhattan

Last week Mike and I had been turned around by a deluge in Boundary pot before the description said we'd even meet water.  This week, approaching the nick in the true left bank of the gill, there was no water sinking and I felt slightly more confident sliding into the entrance.

The incredible spiders in the first chamber were definitely bigger than last week, having spent 7 days gourging on their prey.  We slipped quietly past and were soon in the crawl leaving the second chamber. What a difference a dry week makes! There was no water at all going down the hole and I confidently wiggled down.

My current issues with water caused the first of my navagational hiccups of the evening, pressing on through a curtain of water definitely not appealing to me.  Through we went though and we were soon making the stunning free climbs down into Fusion Cavern.  I'd been reading the description out loud, but my voice wasn't going to carry over the roar of the waterfall so we pressed on to the downstream end of the cavern.

The streamway leaving the cavern is one of my favourite pieces of cave in Ease gill.  Delicate crystaline, false floor and myriad stal decorating the way through to the soaring Boxing Day aven.  Interspersed with the pretties, fresh foam indicated that this really isn't the place to be in wet weather and confirmed that our decision the previous week was the right one.

Stepping up from the aqueous passageway, we entered our first huge cavern of the evening, Hiroshima.  In the far part of this chamber is the stunningly engineered link that makes this trip possible. As ever we'd like to pass on our thanks to the diggers for the work they put in that allows everyone to enjoy the fruits of their labours.  In this case Sam Allshorn and Mike Cooper had also produced the fantastic description we were using to navigate through the link.

Once through the dig we dropped down into the Far East Passage streamway and were soon climbing up into the vastness of Nagasaki.  It was now over to Mike for navigational duties and unlike on my previous trips, he quickly headed off in the right direction towards the Assembly Hall.  White Way,  Thackray's, Holbeck Junction went by in a blur, the only pause being waiting for the ladder to be free at Stop Pot.

In my head, once we were at the Mainline terminus, we had Monster and Snail caverns to pass through before arriving at Cornes.  I therefore thought we'd have two "diminishings" of the passage before arriving at our destination.  Perhaps it was the speed we were travelling at, but seemingly after only a single narrowing we thought we were in the right place.

Now turning to the Braemoor route description I followed it to the letter and found myself in a sandy crawl.  The sand ahead looked undisturbed and I felt a long way from the others.  This couldn't be it.  I retraced my steps, had a moment when I couldn't find the way back, but finally emerged to tell the others it couldn't be the way on.  Mike went scurrying one way to look for landmarks we knew, while I went the other knowing that if I soon bumped into the Minnarets then we were definitely in Cornes.  This left poor Tony in the middle with everyone else disappearing into the gloom.

By the time I got back from the Minnarets, Mike was pushing down the crawl I'd abandoned with more confindence than I'd had and soon found the mud bricks that meant we were on the right path. Sorry lads.  As with the earlier Manhattan description, John Gardner's "Braemoor" description was absolutely superb, as Mike put it, "it tells you on a climb exactly which stal you'll find your right hand on."

Crawling was definitely the order of the day now and the vastness of the upper level series seemed an age away.  Suddenly, our horizontal progress was halted by a pitch!  An isolated 11m hole, dropping down Ease gill aven.

When we had met at Devil's bridge I'd shown Mike my neatly packed tackle sack with 20m of rope for a pull through down the aven and my SRT kit in.  He pointed out that even with these meagre contents it was still quite bulky and that he had a better solution.  At Bull Pot farm he assured us there'd be a rope in situ and produced 3 sets of Brook's Lite SRT kits.  Fully aware of cavers' aversion to flashy new gear, these had been designed to look like a 1980's sling teamed with an HMS krab.

It was therefore a cheery, unjaded team of 3 that arrived at Ease gill aven having travelled unencumbered and unfrustrated by tackle sacks. There had been a brief discussion over whether we should each carry a krab, or would just one do for us all, but personally I'd found the krab useful attach the sling round my body while travelling.  Kit donned, my hitch turned out to be of the Italian variety rather than the similar Clove and thus the obsticle was passed without a Further.

After a brief but very muddy section it was with some relief that we started crawling in the water again, a chance to wash off.  The water having passed through both Mike and Tony's suits by the time it got to me was far from crystal clear and even just trying to wash off the description met with limited success.

Suddenly we popped out into the County streamway with just a climb up and over a boulder choke separating us from Molluscan Hall.  Here it was once again into the water before the enlarging passageway brought us to one of the most recognisable junctions in Ease gill, Platypus.  I'd forgotten how enjoyable the stream way is via Toadstool junction to Broadway, the route maintaining its interest to the very end.

It was still and crisp back on the moor, our return illuminated by a large moon.  Arriving at the farm, the Thursday night diggers were just leaving.  Perhaps one day their current work will lead to a trip as superb as the one we had just completed.

Huge thanks to Mike and Tony for sharing a superb adventure.

30th January 2020 -

In Boundary till it became too wet. Then, County, Manchester Bypass, Minarets, Stop Pot, Wretched Rabbit. Back in County to get the ladder. With Mike.

6th December 2013 - Ropeless in Easegill

Alistair promised lots, post trip steak and beer, a group of Thursday Night Club cavers re-united after a long lay off, and an exciting new round trip, but in the end it was just him and me trudging across the bleak moorland towards the upper reached of Easegill. In fairness to Alistair he didn't say there would not be any of the following

• The need to swim/crawl through water with a temperature of about 5C
• Continuous crawling for long sections
• Very low sections of flat out caving
• Semi blocked passages where large gritstone blocks had to be pushed aside to make progress
• Hanging death blocks 

The list could go on but I don't want to be too negative! It was actually a great caving trip and unique we decided in that it was an Easegill "through trip" without the need for any ropes at all. There are we think another two through trips in this system where you don't need to carry ropes underground, submit a comment below if you think you can name them! (the prize would be something very disappointing so don't even ask!)

The initial entrance series is steady going, quite physical and varied, but never desperate. Alistair's description from Descent magazine seemed quite accurate, and after a few free climbed pitches we arrived at "The Manhattan Project". An impressive dig that connects this previously unconnected part of the system with the continuously increasing kilometres of passages.

Metres of scaffolding and wire fencing have been dragged through quite arduous passages to this remote location, and then used to bury through rocks and gravel, what must have taken 100's of hours to dig through just takes a few seconds to climb down! And after this short climb you arrive in the main Easegill system! THen on Through Hiroshima and Nagasaki chambers to the assembly room and then further on to eventually arrive at the master cave and Thackeray's passage before the none to easy escape via Depot Passages and Wretched Rabbit.

We took a few nice photos, but were still out the cave before 7pm so plenty of time to go and grab a comfy seat at the Barbon Inn. Too late for that we found out, and also we just made do with a beer and crisps due to the no show by those other TNC no-shows!

Unusual purple stalactites in Boundary Pot

Alastair climbing up to the grotto in Boundary Pot

Superb unspoilt calcite formations 

11th April 2013 - Tactical nuclear penguin

First of all this was a light and lucky, fast and free trip so you'll need to have someone read the following to you, while you close your eyes and imagine the trip...

To go caving you need your caving gear and having had a great few days away, Dick offered to take me
 home to pick up my stuff on his motorbike.  Spending most of my time driving a heavily laden van, acceleration isn't something I'm used to and so it was with slightly fraid nerves we arrived at our house.  For some reason my key had let me lock the door behind me when we left, but it was not for being unlocked.  I've now a strong feeling that some of the things you see in films aren't actually true.  Whereas in most films, locked doors fly open with one kick, this just doesn't seem to be the case in reality, or perhaps it was just the tight leather trousers I was wearing.  Finally having gained entry and picked up my gear we headed back to Dick's.  Despite all the protective clothing, I still felt very exposed in the outside lane of the M6, though the available acceleration does make joining the motorway north of Lancaster slightly less fraught.

A chill wind was blowing as we headed over the moors from Bull Pot Farm, where a couple of tents in the garden signalled the presence of a few hardy folk.  The gill was dry as we dropped down to the County pot entrance and only a couple of short sections further up stream, had water flowing.  A great set of instructions from Descent soon saw us at the surprisingly snowy entrance to Boundary pot and for the first few metres we could make like penguins and slide on our tummies over the snow floored passage, so much better than crawling.  A daylight shaft brought a change to more conventional caving techniques, but the excellent guide continued to allow us to find the way on without any difficulty.

Fortunately the last few weeks of dry weather meant the passges of the entrance series were almost completely dry and the first real water encountered was in the impressive chamber, just before Fusion cavern.  Stepping across in front of the cascasde is quite exhilerating and the climb down into the chamber that follows maintains the interest.  After Fusion cavern the way on became slightly more aqueous before we imerged into the dry, silent, vastness of Hiroshima.  Crossing this, we soon arrived at the very impressively built Manhattan connection and the way through to the main Easegill system.

The short traverse and walk through Far East Passage led to our only navigational glitch on the whole trip, with me first beginning the scramble up to Nagasaki to early and then when we got there turning to speak to Dick and futilely arguing that "left" was in the opposite to his "left".  The description really is incredibly clear and you have to be a bit of a muppet to make either of these mistakes.

With each passing footstep now the route became more familiar, Easter grotto, the Assembly Hall, the White Way, Thackray's passage, Holbeck Junction and finally Stop Pot.  Now we just needed to return to the surface by Wretched Rabbit.  No matter how fit I'm feeling, this always seems hard work and I always head up the wrong inlet, so it's great when the smell of fresh air reaches your nostrils and today this was accompanied by the glow of daylight too.

Caving in the day definitely has it's downsides.  First of all the walk over the moor seems to be longer when you can see what you're doing and secondly it was too early for a pint.

Huge thanks to Sam Allshorn, Mike Cooper and the others involved for making this trip possible through their digging efforts and also for the truly excellent description.